May 28, 2020
Creative Giving
“For I was hungry and you gave me food…” Matthew 25:35
The New York Times reported this week about the debate in college football on how to safely open up the fall season: how much the student athletes should have a voice in the decision, the frequency of testing, the quarantining of players who test positive for the virus, and general concerns about the safety of a game that has more contact than just about any other sport.
But in the newspaper’s interviews with some of the players about their concerns, one stood out for me: Florida State tight end, Camren McDonald, whose hometown is Long Beach, California and who works out in Fullerton, close to where he grew up, staying in shape for the upcoming season. In Long Beach,along with his brother and a high school teammate, Mr. McDonald, during the pandemic, has established a nonprofit to help the homeless, health care workers, and other particularly vulnerable people to Covid-19. He and his partners regularly distribute clothes, bagged lunches, and other essential items to those in need of the basics and a little loving attention.
It’s inspirational to learn of a young person whose concentration has to be on staying in condition to play a game at the highest of levels, yet takes the time to reach out to others at a crisis point in their lives, and to do it in such a creative way as forming a nonprofit, which likely expands the mission.
Camren McDonald, his brother, and his high school teammate, in seeing beyond themselves in a time great need and emergency, have fulfilled one of the most important verses in the bible: “For I was hungry and you gave me food.”
Prayer: God of mercy and love, let us contemplate ways in which we reach people who are in dire need of assistance and then follow through with our plans. We pray this in Your name. Amen.
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